Red
Delicious Apple

The Red Delicious is a clone of apple
cultigen, now comprising more than 50 cultivars,
that was recognized in Madison County, Iowa, United
States, in 1880. As new cultivars with improved
color and earlier harvestability have replaced the
original cultivar in commercial orchards, the taste
and texture of the harvested commodity have deteriorated,
and many customers have begun to reject the Red
Delicious at the food market. Roger Yepsen notes
some of the Red's less desirable qualities. "The
skin is thick and bitter and has to be chewed vigorously...
this apple ranks close to the bottom when cooked...
sold year round, so shop with skepticism. Delicious
retains its cheerful good looks long after its flavor
has departed."

The Red Delicious originated at an orchard in 1880
as "a round, blushed yellow fruit of surpassing
sweetness". Stark Nurseries held a competition
in 1892 to find an apple to replace the Ben Davis
apple. The winner was a red and yellow striped apple
sent by Jesse Hiatt, a farmer in Peru, Iowa, who
called it "Hawkeye". Stark Nurseries bought
the rights from Hiatt, renamed the variety "Stark
Delicious", and began propagating it. Another
apple tree, later named the Golden Delicious, was
also marketed by Stark Nurseries after it was purchased
from a farmer in Clay County, West Virginia, in
1914; the Delicious became the Red Delicious as
a retronym.

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